Title

How ground textures effect the distance a rolling object travels

Problem Scenario

This question shows how gravity works and how different surfaces can slow down things like humans, cars, etc.

Specific Question

How does the ground texture effect the distance traveled by a rolling object?

Hypothesis

The bumpier the surface, the less distance the object travels.

Graph of Hypothesis

Variables

Independent Variable:

Texture of the ground.

Dependent Variable:

How far the ball will roll.

Variables That Need To Be Controlled:

Speed of rolling ball. Times tested for each surface.

Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation

Texture: How a certain thing feels.
Distance: The measured amount something traveled.

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General Plan

Potential Problems And Solutions

How I will find each surface. I will use surfaces around my house.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns

I might need to do some tests outside on the dirt.

Experimental Design

Number Of Trials:

10 trials

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:

3 textures and 10 trials

When data will be collected:

February 2012

Number of Observations:

30

Where will data be collected?:

It will be collected in my house

Resources and Budget Table

staples	poster board	$5.00
wal-mart	tennis ball	$1.50

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Background Research

If the ramp is steeper, the ball will travel faster. If the ramp is at zero degree angle, the ball would stay still because the ramp wouldn't be steep at all. If the ramp is at a ninety degree angle, the ball would go fast because that is the maximum steepness of a ramp.
For every second something free falls, gravity makes it increase speed by 9.8 meters squared. That would mean after 2 seconds the object would be traveling at 19.6 meters squared and then after 3 seconds would 29.4 meters squared.

References

"How Does the Steepness of a Ramp Affect How Fast an Object Moves?" WikiAnswers. Answers. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_the_steepness_of_a_ramp_affect_how_fast_an_object_moves>.
"Does Gravity Affect Speed?" WikiAnswers. Answers. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_gravity_affect_speed>.

Detailed Procedure

1. Created a ramp out of a cardboard box.
2. Got a tennis ball and measuring tape.
3. Rolled the ball off the ramp.
4. Measured the distance the ball traveled.
5. Recorded it on a homemade data table.
6. Did this ten times for each of the surfaces.

Photo List

Ball and ramp on carpet

Ball and ramp on tile

Ball and ramp on blanket

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Results

All Raw Data

test	carpet	tile	blanket
one	133	312	143
two	145	304	142
three	157	287	143
four	124	317	120
five	174	312	131
six	162	341	127
seven	158	295	130
eight	157	313	136
nine	148	301	131
ten	177	301	134
max	177	341	143
min	124	287	120
average	153.5	308.3	133.7

Graphs

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Data Analysis

My graph shows that the tile is the smoothest surface, the carpet has a regular surface, and the blanket seemed to be the roughest surface.

Conclusion

My hypothesis was right because the ball didn't travel very far on the rough surface, the ball traveled at an average length on the normal surface, and the ball traveled far on the smooth surface.

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Discussion

I found out that the speed of an object is actually effected by texture of the surface, like if the surface was covered with a slippery liquid, it would travel far. If the surface was covered with some sort of rocky or rough surface, it would make the object travel slow. Also, if the ramp was steeper or less steep, it would make the object travel faster or slower.

Benefit to Community and/or Science

To test different off-road vehicles people could drive them over different textures and then see if they work or not.

Abstract

I did this because I had a theory that some things might not be fast or slow because of the way that they move. I thought sometimes it might be the texture of the surface they are moving on. I first made a ramp out of a cardboard box, got a tennis ball from around the house, and found three surfaces: a carpet, a tile surface, and a blanket. I rolled the ball off the ramp onto each surface ten times and recorded the distance that the ball traveled each time. I learned that the blanket was the roughest surface, the tile was the smoothest surface, and the carpet was in-between. I also learned that the ball traveled the furthest on tile, traveled the least furthest on the blanket, and in-between on carpet.